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Monthly Archives: August 2012

This is the first book in the Vampire Academy spin-off series, Bloodlines. Sydney the Alchemist has been assigned to keep the newly discovered princess, Jill, safe and in hiding in Palm Springs. Too bad several Moroi girls have been mysteriously dying nearby.

Likes
*Many of the story-lines from VA are continued. You hear about almost every main character from that series, get a visit from Rose, and even Mason *sniff* is mentioned.
*Sydney is such a different person than Rose, the POV of the Vampire Academy books. While Rose was often getting in trouble for acting before thinking, Sydney tends to over-think things and fears authority. It’s pretty cool to read that kind of voice in the same world.

Dislikes
*Parts of the ending were a teeny tiny idddy bitty rushed.
*The mental timeline I made of *insert new character here that I’m not going to spoil*’s evil-doing past was a little off.
*Much like the VA series, the title ties into the book but isn’t huge (like how in VA most of the scenes did not take place at the school).

Notes
*The book trailer… WTF? It captures nothing but the fact that Sydney is an Alchemist, and that detail is simply spoken. I’ve read that that’s Adrian in it, and 1) they didn’t meet like that, 2) even if they did, that was not their reaction at ALL, 3) who the bleep is creepy evil school guy? 4) I could go on but I have made my point. There is a link to the trailer at the bottom of this post.
*The next book in the series is called The Golden Lily.

“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.”

Titus and his friends start the story on their way to what we would think of as an out-of-this-world trip for spring break. The things to do on the moon is only a tiny part of this award-winning novel.

Titus lives in a futuristic world where media had taken over to the point that most people have a feed, which is basically a computer implanted in your brain. He is fine with the feed and uses it constantly like everyone else does…

…until an accident on the trip and a girl named Violet change his opinion on the seemingly innocent way of life.

This is nothing like anything I have read before. For starters, the way of explaining the futuristic aspects. You learn most details as the characters learn them, and many of their terms are figured out through context clues.

For another thing (SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT) there is not a happy ending. Depending on what you find is the main conflict, the issue is only emphasized and more urgent at the very end. There is no happily ever after. Titus finishes at an all time low, and in the worst possible place to be in his life. No sequel only adds to that depressing ending. However, the not-so-joyful finish left me satisfied with the overall story. It was sad, yet full. Finished, yet not fully done with nowhere to go. There really is no way to explain it (END OF SPOILER).

There is a feeling of revolution throughout the story. You keep thinking “maybe the world isn’t so black and white” and “when when you put it that way, we need to change.” This is a dramatic story that manages to be dramatic without being focused on the mega action. It’s the nagging feeling in the back of your mind when you start to see the dark sides of day-to-day life.

FEED makes you think. It makes you think about your future, my future, our great-great-great grandchildren’s future… everyone’s. What will we do for pure happiness? Will media run every little minute of our lives? What will our outlooks on the world be?

Everything must go.

Liked Feed? You might also enjoy…Variant by Robison WellsIt’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

The very first scene is 17-year old Amy and her family about to be frozen so they can be loaded up on the spaceship Godspeed to go to another Earth-like planet.

Flash-forward a few hundred years to Elder, ATU’s second point of view. His people have formed their own way of life on Godspeed, with him next in line to be their leader…

… and he may or may not have unfrozen Amy.

Likes
*It’s the future and not everything is run by big machines, no one has superpowers, and artwork is still possible. Yay for something new!
*Revis created a new culture with a few secret twists that made this book even better.
*You get a deep look into Elder and Amy’s heads and a clear understanding of how they think.
*This is a new favorite!

Dislikes
*Elder is a bit of a clueless ass in parts of the sequel, A Million Suns (wait… isn’t that a good thing?) even when his heart was in the right place.

Evie works for the IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency) because she can see past a paranormal’s disguises and know what they really are. Life that way is the only thing she knows, but what about what’s outside the walls and assignments of the IPCA, and how did she really end up working there?

Likes*A new take on paranormal creatures. You think mermaids have long hair and can sing? Think again. Vampires are crush worthy? Not even close. *Evie has such a notable voice. Her way of wording things made me smile.*Lend= awesome (Anyone who has already read this knows what I mean. If you have not, why are you still sitting on the computer? Go the the nearest library or bookstore. Now!)

Dislikes*Evie’s voice- which I already said is great- can sometimes be too much of a good thing. It gets a tiny bit annoying in some places.*Still slightly confused at the end, even after reading the sequel, Supernaturally. Hopefully all ends will be tied up in the third book, Endlessly, which came out last week.

Rose is being blamed for the death of the Moroi queen, things are still weird between Dimitri and her, she knows a secret that could change the entire Moroi government…

… yikes.

Likes
*Dimitri… *looks off in a dream-like way and sighs happily*
*Dimitri
*Dimitri
*With my book crush on true love with Dimitri, I might be a little biased here…
*I became addicted to this entire series. It sucked me right in and created a very vivid world that I will never forget!

Dislikes
*The ending was just a tad rushed, as in the quick scene that changed everything was, well, quick.

Notes
*I’ve seen some reviews saying that it stopped a little short. I agreed, until I learned that there is a spin off series(called Bloodlines) that follows Sydney, Adrian, and Jill.